"We're all aware of it, and we're careful to address it," said Richard Conway, general manager of the Humboldt County Fair Association.

One way the California Horse Racing Board is trying to alleviate the problem is by assigning race dates at various locations — both in Northern and Southern California — that don't overlap each other.

If one event is scheduled, they do their best to not schedule another race in close proximity so the host facility gets the best opportunity to fill its races to the maximum.

Out of the six fairs in Northern California that are enforced by the CHRB — in Pleasanton, Ferndale, Stockton, Fresno, Sacramento and Santa Rosa — there is only one that has overlapping dates during its races: the Humboldt County Fair.

For the last two years, Golden Gate Fields has requested racing dates from the CHRB that conflict with the annual races in Ferndale, which are entering its 117th year.

"Golden Gate's management wants to run every day that's made available to them," Conway said. "And our dates happen to be one that the horse racing board allows them to overlap us."

Humboldt's fair is set to start Aug. 14-Aug. 24, but only have six racing days — Aug. 15-17 and Aug. 22-24.

Golden Gate Fields, which is a race track and not a fair, holds races yearround. Their summer calendar has 19 scheduled race dates scattered between Aug. 15-Sept. 14.

According to Conway, there are usually around 1,200 horses available in the Northern California area.

"We don't have that luxury," Conway said. "We're fortunate if we get 300 horses, and we're trying to hold the same number of races (a day)."

On average, gates at other tracks are able to hold 10-12 horses and race, on average, nine times a day.

In Ferndale, the gate max is eight.

Conway said he's hoping they can average seven horses a race and that they applied to have 72 races within the six-day span, but that number is optimistic.

"If we had the luxury of 5-or-600 horses to draw from, we'd be able to fill the gate. When you're struggling with a horse population and dealing with 200-plus horses, it's a challenge," Conway said. "We have a loyal following of owners and trainers that come up here that enjoy the meet that make it their annual trip. We're fortunate we have them. It's just on their effort and our staff's effort that we're able to make it with what we have."

But the Humboldt County Fair Association's particualr conflict with Golden Gate Fields is the type of races the bigger track is running.

Despite having overlapping dates, Golden Gate Fields was supposed to make its "best effort" to not write any races on the overlapping days with a claiming price, or the purchase price, below $5,000 — which are the majority of the races that run in Humboldt.

On the six days of races in the Cream City, Golden Gate Fields is hosting 13 races below $5,000 in their sub races.

Both representatives from the CHRB and Golden Gate Fields were unavailable for comment.

"There are days they wrote four lower-level races on the same day," Conway said. "For us, it's a big deal. One $4,000 race to us makes a difference."

To make matters potentially worse for Humboldt County, the California State Fair in Sacramento is planning to pick up an extra week of its fair next summer, which could mean more races.

If the CHRB approves the additional time, it could possibly push the 2015 Humboldt County Fair back a week — when most Humboldt-Del Norte schools begin their fall semesters.